For those that are following our 1943 WW2 history project, living as they did in 1943 for one full year, I am doing a September update.
These are our stamps that we have cut out of our ww2 stamp books that we made. These are what we have used since our official start date of July first. We have been posting them on paper and writing on them what we purchased.
It is a bit confusing to purchase goods as they did in 1943 because our food is sold in different sizes than were sold back then. We have been doing a lot of math to figure our ounces. We have had to round up or down mostly.
I am making everything smaller including bread. It takes sugar or honey to get the yeast going so really most everything has changed.
This is two mini buns that I made here. These are sitting in the warm oven to rise. The light bulb is keeping the oven warm. Later I baked these with other food I was cooking. The bottom of our oven probably would not have had aluminum foil but I use it so I guess I am cheating a bit.
All across the country gasoline rations changed and people had to follow the news to know what was going on. There were no televisions so newspapers and radios were very important to keep up with the war and rationing.
We have had to separate our work life from our living like 1943 when it comes to gasoline. My husband is not retired so he must drive for work. What we do is we keep up with our mileage. We know how many gallons we get per miles so we calculate and separate work from non work. We have had a few necessary family visits that we did not count on gasoline and in 1943 this would not have been possible. They just did not have the gasoline, there was no fudging.
We are just doing the best we can and we have cut back in many ways such as when we are out we try and get what we need all in one trip. Or my husband rides his bicycle to the store. He has wire saddle bags on the back and front of his bike. He is actually enjoying riding to the store to get groceries. I have not had the endurance yet to do this but I am working on it. Living in today's time has a disadvantage because stores are more spread out. Back in 1943, those living in the cities could walk many places or take a bus.
My Friend Catherine across the country also doing the ww2 history project is taking the bus to work and has learned much by doing this. It is saving them money (in today's time) to take the bus instead of the car.
Same article continued....
Same article continued......
During the war people had to learn ways how to cut back in most everything.
As we are moving through the 1943 newspaper month by month and the food rations keep changing. I have had to find more ways to reduce recipes. I have resorted to measuring in ounces so I can divide recipes. These small glass measuring cups can be purchased in most stores such as walmart, targets etc.
This was Mondays meal and I cooked enough to have leftovers for the next day. we had Boiled Potatoes, Boiled Cabbage, Boiled Carrots and Boiled Beef stew meat. This was one pound of stew meat. I was keeping it warm waiting for my husband to come home.
The reason we had beef stew is because we found that in Septembers grocery ads Stew Beef was only 2 points per pound. So we went to the butcher and purchased 5 pounds of stew beef and had the butcher wrap it in one pound paper wraps. It feels good to have more meat in the freezer.
There were all kinds of shortages of foods and goods that were not rationed. People did not know what was coming next. Even though Chicken was not rationed, Chicken was not available all the time. Back then Chickens were kept for eggs and if there was a special meal to cook someone would have killed and dressed a chicken or if purchased at the store it would have been much less often than we do today. Many people have reminded us that people did not eat much chicken back then. Also people went fishing and hunting for food. So with our rationing we realized that we cannot substitute chicken during our history project.
Butter got seriously high in points as time went by. We thought 8 points was high but then came 12, then 16 points then later even higher. So much for butter on the table.
Continued butter article....
Continued...
continued.....
Continued....
I have switched to a smaller loaf pan for bread and a divided recipe. Flour was not rationed but oil, butter and sugar were so thus a smaller loaf.
We don't eat that much sugar but when cooking every meal homemade sugar is required in certain things we make. The sugar crock is getting very low....
Coffee actually went off rationing. I am guessing because when coffee was rationed coffee sales went up. People that did not drink coffee started drinking coffee. I really do not know why it went off rationing but it went off then went back on and then back off.
So this is where we stand with our rationing. We are staying below our budget every week. Food costs vary all across the country and the world so giving an amount what is budgeted is of no use for me to post. I will update again next month about our rationing. I hope this helps.
This week I am going to be sewing a 1940s hat from an old vintage pattern. I will be posting it for you to see and if I can figure out how, I will make a pattern.
Grandma Donna
